


Counting Sheep

by the__magpie



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Human Castiel, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-31
Updated: 2015-01-31
Packaged: 2018-03-09 21:32:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3265055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the__magpie/pseuds/the__magpie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cas is having trouble sleeping, so Dean agrees to help him out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Counting Sheep

**Author's Note:**

> AU where Dean doesn’t kick human!Cas out of the bunker and everyone gets to be happy for once.

After showing Cas to the shower and pointing him in the direction of the bedroom he’ll be taking, Dean throws himself onto his bed without undressing. He is asleep within moments, exhausted from a day spent driving and worrying and searching and praying that Cas was alright.

He has always been a light sleeper, though, so it isn’t a surprise when he is woken up only a few hours later by a sound from down the hall. He sits up, listening closely. He doesn’t hear anything now, but it seemed to come from the direction of Cas’ room. A little worried now, Dean slips out of bed and crosses his room, poking his head out the door into the hallway. Cas’ bedroom door is closed. Dean pads down the hall and pauses in front of the door. The light is on inside. After a moment of hesitation, Dean turns the door handle and pushes the door open.

Cas is on his knees by one of the bookshelves that line the walls, surrounded by books scattered across the floor. He has a few of the books gathered into his arms. When Dean opens the door, he jumps, dropping the books he’s holding and looking around, his eyes wide.

“Oh,” he says. “Dean. You startled me.”

“What’s going on, Cas? I heard a noise.”

Cas looks around at the books strewn about him. “I apologize for waking you up. I was having trouble sleeping and I thought I would do some reading, but…I’m afraid a whole stack of books fell instead.”

“Can’t have that, can we?” Dean joins Cas on the floor, helping him gather up the fallen books and stack them back on the bookshelf. It is only when they straighten up that Dean notices what Cas is wearing; a pair of Dean’s boxer shorts and an old, faded Led Zeppelin t-shirt.

Cas notices Dean staring and looks down, a slight blush on his cheeks. “I’m sorry, it’s all I could find in the laundry pile. Sam’s clothes are…a bit large for me. You don’t mind, do you?”

“I…I…” Dean swallows hard, reminding himself not to stare because it’s getting weird. “No, man, it’s fine. Whatever you need.” He wants to tell Cas never to wear anything different ever again, but he figures that would be going a little too far, so he keeps his mouth shut.

“Anyways,” Cas says. “It’s not as if it’s helping me get to sleep.”

“You…you can’t sleep?” Dean vaguely remembers Cas mentioning something like this a few seconds ago, but seeing Cas in his clothes made him so flustered he seems to have forgotten everything.

“It’s strange,” Cas admits. “A millennia of never tiring, never needing rest, and now I can’t even function day to day without a few hours of sleep.” He frowns. “Humans spend so much time sleeping. Think of how much more they – we – could achieve if we didn’t have to sleep.”

“Okay, Socrates.” Dean has noticed the dark circles underneath Cas’ eyes, even more prominent than usual. “You need to rest.”

Cas sighs. “I can’t, Dean. Every time I try, I end up staring at the ceiling questioning my existence.”

“Welcome to the human race,” Dean chuckles.

“I was told to count sheep, but…I don’t understand how if there are no sheep nearby. And sheep can be very noisy. I don’t think that they would help me fall asleep at all.”

Dean laughs, putting his hands on Cas’ shoulders and guiding him toward his bed, which has been untouched. “They’re imaginary sheep, Cas. It’s supposed to be relaxing.”

“Relaxing?” Cas echoes as he crawls under the covers of his bed. “How do you fall asleep, Dean?”

Dean hesitates for half a second before sitting down on the edge of Cas’ bed. “I dunno, I just close my eyes I guess. Trust me, it gets easier with time.” He smiles then, remembering. “Although when I was little, my mom used to sing to me to help me fall asleep.”

Cas’ brow pinches with that familiar, confused look. “And does singing help you relax?”

“Yeah, I guess it does, most of the time.”

“Will you sing to me, Dean?”

“What?” Dean almost jumps to his feet. “No, man, I’m not gonna sing to you, that’s…”

“Please, Dean?” Cas has those wide, pleading eyes on, the look that he probably learned from Sam. He looks so helpless and tired laying there, his eyes sunken, his hair sticking up from his shower, and his hands grabbing the edge of the blanket under his chin like a goddamn kid. Dean feels something inside him melt.

“Fine,” he says gruffly, rolling his eyes. “But only this once, okay? We’re not going to make a habit of this.”

Cas nods earnestly.

“And you’re not going to fall asleep with this light on,” Dean adds. He stands up and crosses the room, feeling Cas’ eyes following him the whole way. He flicks the lights off, plunging the room into darkness.

“I can’t see a thing,” Dean grumbles, feeling his way through the dark to find Cas’ bed.

“I’m right here, Dean,” Cas says quietly, surprisingly close. Dean manages to sit down on the edge of the bed without hurting either of them.

“Well then,” Dean says.

“Sing, Dean,” Cas urges.

Dean takes a deep breath. He clears his throat. He takes another deep breath. Then he sings the song his mom sang him when he was almost too small to remember.

_“Hey Jude, don’t make it bad. Take a sad song and make it better.”_

His voice is scratchy and out of tune, wavering on the higher notes and dying out on the held out ones. But Cas just sighs and settles deeper into his blankets.

_“Remember to let her into your heart. Then you can start to make it better.”_

Almost immediately, Cas’ breathing slows, and his foot stops fidgeting under the sheets.

_“Hey Jude, don’t be afraid. You were made to go out and get her.”_ Tentatively, Dean reaches out and touches Cas’ hair, just like his mother did when she sang to him. Cas makes a contented noise. Dean smiles when he feels a little soapiness in Cas’ hair; he must not have washed all the shampoo out. Dean will have to teach him how to shower properly. Not in that way of course, just to help him out.

_“The minute you let her under your skin, then you begin to make it better.”_ There is so much that Cas will have to learn now that he is human. Falling asleep is only the beginning. If Dean is completely honest with himself, he’s excited to teach Cas all these little things.

_“And anytime you feel the pain, hey Jude, refrain. Don’t carry the world upon your shoulders.”_ Slowly, Dean’s fingers run through Cas’ hair, smoothing it down and pushing it away from his face.

_“For well you know that it’s a fool who plays it cool, by making his world a little colder.”_

Dean stops singing. Cas’ breathing is steady and even, and he doesn’t make a sound when Dean moves his hand away from his head. Dean smiles to himself. He finds himself wishing it wasn’t so dark so he could see the peaceful look on Cas’ face as he sleeps. Then he quickly shakes his head and pushes the thought away.

Resisting the urge to place a kiss on Cas’ forehead, Dean stands up. He crosses the room and opens the door to the hallway, but turns back before leaving. The light from the hallway has illuminated Cas’ bed, and Dean watches him for a moment. He remembers what his mother used to say to him, that angels were watching over him. Oh how the tables have turned.

“Goodnight, angel,” he whispers, then closes the door and creeps back down the hall. When he is back in his room, he swears to himself that he will never let himself be pulled in so deep again.

However, the next night, around midnight, there is a knock on Dean’s door. He opens it, bleary eyed, to find Cas standing there, looking apologetic and pleading.

“Will you sing to me, Dean?” Cas asks.

Dean opens the door wider for him. “Alright, come in.”


End file.
